The most underrated General in US history was Robert F. Lee.

[Kire]

His men called him General "Flea", but they respected his ability to win battles.

[roguevalley]

1. After Pickett's charge, he lost a bunch of his luster. However, he

was beloved and very smart.

[KG]

2. not underrated. a first rate tactician

but his real skill was his ability to correctly judge the military ability of his foes, and make his battle plans accordingly.

[tjwmason]

3. The car was damn fine

don't know enough about American history to comment on the man himself.

[bluestateguy]

4. Take a trip to rural Virginia and say that

You would get a worse reaction from the locals than if you criticized Jesus Christ or George W. Bush.

[Kire]

5. this is a copycat

wow, 4 posts and nobody gets the joke

to comment on Robert E. Lee, click here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=105&topic_id=2435372&mesg_id=2435372

[eyepaddle]

7. Oh, some people got it!

I was just looking to see where the day took it.

Didn't General "Flea" have a little trouble finding a good guitarist? Plus his lost most of his great tactical success after he gave up his vaunted "slap and pop" strategy.

[bluestateguy]

6. Lee had the advantge of many inept Union generals against him

It's not that Lee never made mistakes. He did, sometimes very revealing mistakes, but too often McLellan (twice), Pope, Hooker, Burnside and even Meade failed to take advantage of them.

I have found that Lee was actually a rather cautious general in most cases and that that caution often gave the Union Army many opportunities to destroy the Army of Northern Virginia.

Pickett's Charge was a foolish move, though Pickett's men fought valiantly, and one regiment even broke through to the Union lines, but the rest were sitting ducks.